Year: 1940s-1960s
Bungalow Bar, founded by a Greek immigrant family, was a brand of ice cream sold from trucks to consumers --- mostly children --- on the streets in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens Staten Island and The Bronx, as well as in Yonkers and Nassau County during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Bungalow Bar trucks had a distinctive, quaint, and decidedly old-fashioned look: white, with rounded corners, and made to look like a small, mobile bungalow topped with a dark brown shingle roof. Good Humor's trucks appeared larger, more angular, and more modern.
Perhaps for this reason, Bungalow Bar suffered from a terrible --- and completely undeserved --- reputation among children, who believed the product inferior. This reputation was not helped by Bungalow Bar's prices which were half of Good Humor's. Children mocked Bungalow Bar with a rhyme that had many neighborhood variations:
Bungalow Barin Flatbush, Brooklyn; and
Tastes like tar
Put it in a jar
And throw it far
Bungalow Barin Queens; and another, from the Bushwick section of Brooklyn:
Tastes like tar
The more you eat
The sicker you are
Bungalow Bar
Tastes like tar
Take a bite
And spit it far
Bungalow Bar, just like Good Humor, went out of business when the price of gasoline rose dramatically in 1973. Without a national presence in stores, Bungalow Bar vanished completely.
I and my friends, as children, just loved the taste of Bungalow Bar ice cream and much preferred it to Good Humor.
ReplyDeleteSo did we! We were faithful to George, our Bungalow Bar man who knew all our favorites!
DeleteAhh the good old days.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Peter my grandfather created Bungalow Bar ice cream in 1929 I'm searching for one truck
ReplyDeleteMy name is Steve. I grew up in Queens. I am 77 years old. My father was Sol and his parents were Bessie and Joe. I believe we used to visit your family in Yonkers or the Bronx I think you had a cousin named David. We may be related.
DeleteYou said you are looking for a truck?
DeleteI found a link.
Not sure if it is still available.
26K but needs a little work.
https://topclassiccarsforsale.com/chevrolet/423643-1955-chevy-bungalow-bar-ice-cream-truck-solid-original-no-rust-rare-good-humor.html
My grandfather was one of the original partners in Bungalow Bar.
DeleteThere is one for sale near me if you are still looking, it's beautiful. Post and let me know
DeleteMy grandparents lived next door to your grand parents. I remember Solon and Kiki. IWe lived with my grandparents until I was 4. Our families had a wonderful relationship. The driveways abutted. Went back to 167th st. Several years ago. Neighborhood is very different.
DeleteI hope you find a truck in good condition, Peter! It would be real slice of history. I remember the trucks very well. My mother insisted we buy Bungalow Bar when it was available rather than Good Humor. She thought Bungalow Bar was better quality. She was also very much a product of her time. Good luck with your search.
ReplyDelete8 yes my grandfather created it do you want to talk my number is 347-393-5964 Peter
DeleteVery fond positive memories, always enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Queens in the 40s-60s and can still hear the Bungalow Bar bell ringing in my head. My brother's favorite was the toasted almond bar and mine was the creamsicle or just plain vanilla bar with chocolate. I'm 74 now and still remember the name of our "ice-cream man": Pete!
ReplyDeleteI WAS A "BOMB POP" FREAK. LIVED IN GLENDALE ON DORAN AVE. AS A KID AND BUNGALOW AND MR. SOFTEE ARE FOND MEMORIES. BUNGALOW CAME FIRST AND SOFTEE CAME MORE TOWARDS THE EVENING.
DeleteRemember enjoying Bungalow Bar in Yonkers, early '60s. Somehow those mean jingles never stopped anyone from buying!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the 60s too. Many from Queens and Brooklyn moved out to Nassau County where I grew up. But, sad to say, that jingle DID prevent kids from ever buying BB ice cream. It was social suicide to be seen eating BB. We targeted the BB truck with pranks and taunting as if they were the worst enemy. I used to wonder if ANYONE ever ate their ice cream. I'm glad to read that in some areas they were popular.... but not in ours.
DeleteBungalow Bob was our driver E 65th st
ReplyDeleteGave me peel off Tattoos
I grew up in Bay RIdge, Brooklyn in the 50's - 60's. My favorite was the Vanlla Pop. The ice cream and the chocolate coating was the best. My taste buds can remember how delicious it was. I was actually looking on line to see if it was still sold in supermarkets somewhere. Shame it isn't. It really was the best even though we did sing, "Bungalow Bar tastes like tar, the more you eat it, the sicker you are". We didn't mean it but it was such a great rhyme, although totally opposite from the truth!
ReplyDeleteQueen's kids used "the sicker you are" too.
ReplyDeleteNassau County had the "sicker you are" too. We must have gotten it from Brooklyn and Queens.
DeleteRon from Flushing Queens: I used to drive a Bungalow Bar truck for three years as my summer job from college in the early 60's.
ReplyDeleteSo wild... I'm watching a redecorating show on HGTV, Love It or List It, as I do very often and have heard the word bungalow on these shows a million times... but for some reason just now it reminded me of the ice cream company and I was trying to remember the second word and then it came to me Bungalow Bar and here I looked it up and everyone still remembers it too! I don't think I was allowed to buy ice cream from trucks for financial reasons but but some of the comments mentioned the coconut covered ice cream pop, I do remember that! I libed in Sheepshead Bay,Brooklyn and I don't remember the truck jingle specifically and I never heard the Silly Songs either as I recalled!Hope you found your truck! If not, you should contact the fellows who have the American Pickers TV show ... they may be able to help you! Take care!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Bungalow Bar trucks when visiting my Grandfathers house in Queens Village. Where I lived in Floral Park it was mostly Good Humor or sometimes an independent who sold Marino's Italian Ice, cola or watermelon flavor were so good. I also remember the knife sharpening truck. You could get stuff sharpened like my dad getting his manual push mower blades. Life had a slower pace in the 60's and these trucks selling treats and a services were a part of it.
ReplyDeleteLived onn216th off Hillside I remember the sharpener too in his wagon. The veg e table nmIrakuan man in his horse drawn wagon.. we sang a different version in upper QV. Bungalow Bar tastes like tar who 's the monkey driving the car.
DeleteOne day Good Humor and Bungalow trucks came down the street same time. 89th Ave was the showdown fist fight. Good Humor won. No one called the police except our mothers all called us in.
Ruffians tge both of these guys
Didn't see Bungalow Bar much after that around 1957
Does anyone heard of JACK FRIENDLY in association with BUNGALOW BAR Ice Cream? This would date until no later than 1966. Any information on my Late Uncle, who owned the company would be of interest to me, thanks- Andy.
ReplyDeleteI was 7 when Bungalow Bar when out of business but can fondly remember "Jimmy" as our ice cream man. Stratford Ave, Park Versailles, Bronx.
ReplyDeleteI drove a Bungalow Bar truck and sold Ice Cream from it in the summer of 1961. I met my then future wife on my Ice Cream route in Queens Village. The truck was so top heavy, because of the roof, that if you made a sharp turn at more than 30mph the wheels would lift off the ground and the truck almost turn over. The Good Humor driver taught the kids to say "Bungalow Bar tastes like tar", etc. I taught my group of ice cream kids to yell "eat Good Humor, get a tumor" as he drove by. The Good Old Days?
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff I located two Buffalo ice cream trucks in 1941 and the 1946 excuse me 56 they're really rough shape but they could be restored thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteExcuse me I do voice to text I meant to say bungalow bar
ReplyDeleteI remember Bungalow Bar ice cream growing up on Radcliffe ave in the Bronx near PS 83 in the 1050s. We preferred Bungalow Bar Ice cream over Good Humor. Never heard the jingle put out by Good Humor. Loved the toasted almond bar, the creamsicle, and the regular chocolate covered bars. Our driver told us to cut out the picture of the ice cream bar and fasten it to a piece of paper. When you had a number like about 24 on your paper, you would get a free ice cream bar. Gods memories of the good old days.
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ReplyDeleteWay back in the 1950's my Uncle Ernie (Anastasios) and Uncle Basil (Vasilios) worked at Bungalow Bar, I believe in the Bronx, taking the train from Red Hook/Brooklyn Heights. They had more than a few stories about getting into fist fights and not making weight for the Golden Gloves because my one Uncle ate more ice cream than what he got paid for a day’s work.
Peter are you still looking for a Bungalow Bar truck?
DrMWSpanakos@gmail.com
I well remember
ReplyDeleteBought my ice cream from Bungalow Bar on Hunts Point Ave in the Bronx in the 50s
ReplyDeleteIn the 1950s, kids in East Elmhurst, NY used to sing: Bungalow Bar, tastes like tar, put it in the gas tank and drive your car! I loved the toasted almond bar.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in the fort green projects and a bungalow bar ice cream truck who was a regular in our neighborhood saw a distraught mother and a severely injured child and took them to Cumberland hospital. I was 4 and have a half of a toe maybe 1951 I never forgot it! I am 77 now
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